politics
California Teacher Married Gaza Resident via Zoom Marriage to Advance Palestinian Rights
Laura Pinho, 51, stated she wed Salem S.E. Abu Amra on April 5 solely to provide him U.S. citizenship and support Palestinian causes. The remote ceremony occurred in Utah, and Pinho has discussed her activism in school clubs and on social media.
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Laura Pinho, a 51-year-old dance teacher at Canoga Park Senior High School in California, stated during a June 16 CODEPINK Zoom webinar that she married Salem S.E. Abu Amra on April 5 to advance Palestinian rights and freedoms by using her American citizenship and passport to equalize opportunities.
The marriage took place via Zoom under Utah rules that allow remote ceremonies when both parties hold a county license, valid identification, and two witnesses.
Pinho organized a GoFundMe campaign for Abu Amra the month before the wedding, writing that he served as primary caregiver for a family of five and spent his days securing clean water and foraging for food. She said she first met him through mutual friends on Facebook and later donated money to him.
Pinho heads the Students for Justice in Palestine club at her school and said she incorporates the history and meaning of the Dabke dance into her curriculum while guiding students who lead protests.
Public records show she received $179,103 in pay and benefits from the Los Angeles Unified School District as of 2024. Derek J. Reid, 51, the father of Pinho’s 5-year-old child and listed at the same address, stated that he and Pinho were domestic partners who never married officially, are now separated, and sleep in separate rooms.
He said he had no knowledge of her marriage to Abu Amra and that their relationship ended in part over her departure from a church due to its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pinho posted on Facebook in December 2025 an image claiming Israel was created by Satanic bankers and that modern Jews descend from Khazars.
